Marans Thread for Posting Pics of Your Eggs, Chicks and Chickens

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Because the blue gene isn't the same thing as the wheaten gene.

sigh...I wonder if I will ever understand the genetics of Marans. Thanks Amazondoc

Germaine, Do you have a picture of her?

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
You need to understand some basic principles of genetics first.

Wheaten is one of the alleles (versions of a gene) in the "E" series of genes. It is notated as E(Wh).

Birchen is another of the E alleles. It is notated as ER. Birchen is the "E" allele that brown coppers have.

Black....welll, "true" black, in any case....is E. Also called "Extended black".

Wheaten is recessive to both birchen and extended black. So, birds that have one copy of the birchen gene and one copy of the wheaten gene will look birchen. Wheaten is also recessive to extended black.

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The "blue" trait is NOT one of the E alleles. It's at a different genetic site (also called locus). It is notated as Bl.

The Bl trait is "incomplete dominant" with it's opposite allele, bl+. "bl+" is "not blue", more or less. "Incomplete dominant" means that one copy of the gene produces some effect, and two copies of the gene produce more effect.

So -- if a bird has NO copies of Bl, then the black areas are black. If a bird has one copy of Bl, then the black areas are diluted to blue. If the bird has two copies of Bl, then the black areas are diluted all the way to splash.

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If you add the blue trait to the black copper trait, you get blue coppers. Add it to extended black, and you get solid blue birds. And so on.

I hope this helps!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:

sigh...I wonder if I will ever understand the genetics of Marans. Thanks Amazondoc

Germaine, Do you have a picture of her?

Hi Kathy, I do somewhere but it is an old picture. I think she looks more like Partridge than anything else. I will try and get a pic of her. If I remember correctly someone said she probably has a lack of melanizing gene (?)

 

[geebs]

NateDomRir:

This is an exerpt taken off the Marans of America website... I thought it easier to post it than to have everyone try to hunt it down regarding the chicken of the color hen you have posted. For an egg layer pen she is probably very nice but as for breeding for Type this is pretty clear on the subject. For this reason my similar hens are for my enjoyment only... They are the lovely breakfast club.

Other color flaws

We can find another color flaw in the Brown-Red hens. It's the appearance of feathers, which are speckled, stippled, with more or less light marks, fawn-colored coppery colored, or with light shafts. They are said to have stippling on the breast and even on the whole body. Such hens have sometimes been shown as "partridge" Marans, which is totally unacceptable. The true genetic "partridge" color present in some breeds (like the wild type Duckwing) has nothing in common with these Marans hens, which can only be considered as bad Brown-Reds from which you can get nothing good. These hens often corresponds to cocks whose breast red color is too spread out down to the thighs, and whose coppery tones are often replaced by a pale light fawn or straw-colored feather shades, which are considered to be incorrect. Once again, it is advisable to choose as breeding stock only the cocks or hens that are neither too black nor too pale, fawn colored or which are a bad, light coppery, color

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Sorry to have so many questions but my girls are getting near POL and I am trying to decide who to breed to whom. Or cull to the laying flock.

I kept two Roos. #1 Roo, has beautiful color, good type, eyes, feathering and just a little copper in his breast feathers but no feathered feet.
#2 Roo has very nice color, nice type, good eye color and feathered feet. His copper is just a little brassy and he has a bit more copper in his breast feathers (not alot but more than 10%).

I have some BCMarans hens that have good type, good eyes, feathered feet and little to no coppering in hackles.
some BCMarans hens that have good type, black eyes, feathered feet a little coppering in hackles
some BCMarans hens that have good type, black eyes, unfeathered feet and very little coppering in hackles
one BCMarans hen that has good type, good eyes, feathered feet and good coppering in hackles.

Any suggestions on a good breeding program?

If I breed feathered feet to unfeathered feet and hatch out chicks with some feathering on their feet--will that gene be dominant in the chicks I save?

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
If that post is for me (LOL) then no worries. I know I can't breed her at least not for Pure Marans eggs. Maybe an olive egger though!

But... here is another question for you. I hatched some chicks. 9 to be exact. 6 are very color flawed and 3 were proper coloring but one has a serious genetic defect. So that leaves two. Very nice chicks. But will the genetics of the Grandparents show up in the "good" BCMarans offspring also?
So basically I want to know if the good marans will produce good marans or if the poor genetics that showed up in the siblings will show up in the other good offspring too.

 

[geebs]

i think that is the working theory... Take the best of the breedings.. breed them to correct flaws and then breed them again... cull heavily... (like you did) and keep moving forward.

One could use both males in the breeding program to improve the female providing that they compensate for each others bad traits. Use only the good hatched from the pairing.

A hen weak in red could be compensated for with an overly red male providing you don't breed forward a different undesirable trait etc..

 

[Germaine_11.20]

But Geebs how long do the "poor" traits from past parentage show up? How many generations does it take for a line to actually breed true?

 

[geebs]

I have no idea... That is better answered by one of the experts... I just know to keep breeding forward for the best traits and eventually you will have a nice parent flock... How many generations that takes and what traits carry forward... IDK

Anyone out there want to chime in on this one??? It is a great question.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thank you for trying! I think that is the question I would like answered the most. The answer will give me hope!